


Emerald

by charcolor



Category: Vocaloid
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), F/F, Kidnapping, Rescue, Road Trips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-21
Updated: 2018-10-04
Packaged: 2019-06-12 17:55:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 17,960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15345321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charcolor/pseuds/charcolor
Summary: Miku Hatsune wakes up to find that her girlfriend, Gumi, has been kidnapped. She must rescue her in ten days with the help of her friends, and develop a plan to save Gumi without needing to pay the impossible amount of ransom money, or letting Gumi's abrasive, controlling brother get to her first.





	1. The Gang Gets On The Road

_Miku Hatsune --_

_By now you may have noticed your missing lover. Fortunately, she is safe with me. However, if you do not retrieve her from the enclosed address in the next ten days with a payment of ¥100,000,000, I will have no choice but to resort to drastic measures to ensure I receive this payment by any means necessary._

_I suggest you make haste. And don't go through the trouble of calling the police. I'm a man who always makes sure to plan ahead. I assure you I will become aware of it immediately and repay you with the immediate death of your lovely Gumi._

_Yours truly,_

_S_

* * *

That was the note folded up and stuffed in Miku's pocket as she sat at the back of the van, gripping onto her seatbelt with sweaty fingers as she stared blankly out the window.

She'd woken up that morning with the note taped to her front door. Within minutes she'd been frantically dialing numbers on her phone.

"Meet me at Meiko's," she'd told them all. Except Meiko, whom she'd simply told, "I'm coming over."

Meiko was the only one out of the six of them who had a car of some sort. Well, it was her dad's. Meiko didn't have a license. None of them did. But Miku had insisted they use the van to save Gumi.

"That's a terrible idea," Kaito had said, rolling his eyes. "You know how hard it is to pretend to have a license? We'll get caught by the cops in an hour, tops. Just call the police."

Miku had held the ransom note up in his face and waved it in frustration. "She'll _die_ if we call the cops, idiot! Besides, you can't even trust police these days!"

"My dad would _kill_ me if he found out about this," Meiko sighed. She already had the keys dangling from her slender fingers, but her red-brown eyes were hesitant. "Is there really no other way?"

"We have ten days," Luka noted, looking over Miku's shoulder. "And Terinten shouldn't take longer than five to get to. For a kidnapper, this guy's pretty generous."

"What about that ransom?" Len asked. "Where are we gonna get a hundred million yen?"

"We won't," Miku answered.

"What's your plan, then?"

"Get in the van and come up with a plan on the way there."

"That's not a plan."

Len's twin, Rin, threw her arm around his shoulder and rolled her eyes. "It's a plan to make a plan. Duh. We don't have time to come up with a real rescue plan now."

"We have ten days," Len deadpanned.

"Actually..." Luka crossed her arms. "Don't you think that's a bit suspicious? Ten days is a lot. I feel like there's a trap somewhere along the way."

She was probably right, but Miku shook her head. "We can worry about it later! Let's get on the road!" She yanked at the door handle. After a click, Miku was startled by the suddenly opened door and fell back on the ground.

Meiko chuckled. "Ah, sorry." She took Miku's hand and pulled her to her feet. After Miku dusted off her clothes, everyone piled in the van and Meiko, muttering about how screwed she'd be when she got home, drove off.

Now, Miku was sitting next to Rin, who was sitting next to Len. Luckily, the three of them were small enough for it to not be too cramped in the back seat. Luka sat in the passenger's seat in front of Miku. Meiko was driving. Kaito was behind the seats. It was a good thing Meiko's dad didn't have anything in the back at the moment.

Rin turned her head to look over her seat at Kaito, who lay on his back while typing something on his phone. "You good back there?" she asked, amusement curving her mouth the slightest bit upward.

"Yeah," Kaito replied without looking up.

"Who you texting?"

"Gackpo." Kaito flinched as the van hit a bump in the road, then continued. "Just letting him know his little sister's been kidnapped."

Rin rested her chin on the top of the seat. "I think he might want in on the rescue mission."

Len turned his head, his eyebrows raised. "Don't they hate each other's guts?"

Rin shrugged. "Yeah, but family's family. I mean..." She turned back around to face Len, before flicking him on the nose. "I'd be a little worried if you were kidnapped."

"You need to trim your nails," Len muttered, rubbing his nose.

Rin ignored him. "I'd probably wait a while before going to get you, though. First I'd look around your room to see where you're hiding the good DS games."

"I told you," Len groaned, "I don't know where Sonic Chronicles is!"

Behind them, Kaito snorted. "You think Sonic Chronicles is a good game?"

"Shut up, Kaito!" the twins shouted in unison.

"Oh, hold on." Luka turned her head back to look over everyone. "Gackpo lives in Terinten, doesn't he?"

"He does," Meiko answered. "But he's on vacation right now, I heard. And we can't ask him to go get Gumi for us. He doesn't have a way to get her without getting hurt, you know?"

"Doesn't he know martial arts?" Luka pointed out.

Meiko shrugged. "I guess, but this guy probably has a gun if he's asking for that much ransom money. And I don't think Gackpo has one."

Kaito then announced, "He texted back." Everyone besides Meiko and Miku turned their heads as he read Gackpo's text. "He says, 'I know. I'm already on it. It's not on the news or anything, how did you find out?'" Kaito threw his hands up. "What's that supposed to mean? Did he get a ransom note too?"

"Wait, wait, wait." Rin crossed her arms. "Gumi's asshole brother canceled his whole vacation and went on his way to get her in the time since she was kidnapped last night? That seems pretty suspish."

Len tilted his head. "Why's Gackpo an asshole?"

"Well," Rin started, "he--"

She stopped and turned her head toward Miku. Miku knew she was looking, but she kept her gaze to the window. In the reflection, she caught Luka looking back at her as well.

Gackpo was, simply put, an asshole. That was no secret to the girls. Miku, personally, didn't see him as much more than that. She certainly did hate him, though, and the feeling was clearly mutual from the way he treated her. He'd even resorted to physical violence at one point after seeing her kiss Gumi, beating her up and knocking her out. Miku resisted the urge to clench her fist at the thought of what more could happen if Gackpo rescued Gumi before they did. That was probably what Rin was about to mention, but apparently no one else in the van knew exactly how Gackpo treated her, so maybe it was best to not bring it up.

"He's overprotective," Miku said, not looking away from the window. "And he hates me."

"Over Gumi?" Len asked. "The sister whose guts he hates?"

Miku shrugged. "I guess 'overprotective' isn't the right word. More like, uh..." She didn't want to say something that would reveal a peek of that incident. She settled on "controlling."

"Yikes," Len sighed in reply. "And that text he sent kind of sounds like he wants her rescue all to himself." He paused to shrug. "Guess it's not too surprising."

"He _is_ friends with Kaito," Rin added.

Kaito, of course, immediately protested. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you _suck_!"

Kaito blew a raspberry at her.

"Wow, Kaito," Luka commented with a smirk. "Bet Rin's shaking in her boots."

"Leave him alone, guys." Meiko didn't look away from the road, but her eye roll was still obvious to everybody in the car.

Rin opened her mouth to reply, probably with sass, but Len interrupted. "So what about that plan, Miku? Are we just gonna drive nonstop until we get there?"

"That's impossible," said Meiko. "We'll have to stop to get gas, and sleep and eat."

Rin's quarrel with Kaito was forgotten as her eyes lit up. "Oh, yeah, where are we going for lunch? McDonald's? I'm thinkin' McDonald's."

"This isn't just a fun road trip, Rin." Luka's cool voice took a warning tone, as if scolding a child. "We're trying to save Miku's girlfriend."

Rin mostly ignored her. "Hey, instead of all that money we could use McDonald's as ransom payment. Like, hey, bastard, if you don't let her go we're keeping this feast of kings to ourselves."

Luka only responded with a glare.

"I'm kidding." Rin crossed her arms, unamused at Luka's lack of amusement. "I get it. I know Gumi's in danger. But not with her knight in shining armor over here!"

She elbowed Miku, flashing a friendly grin. Miku tentatively returned it. Apparently, Rin hadn't caught on to how Miku was feeling, and Miku didn't want to rain on her parade. Len, on the other hand, raised an eyebrow at her. "Are you doing okay?' he asked.

"Her girlfriend got kidnapped," Luka informed him flatly.

"I'm not an idiot," Len retorted, his tone sharpening for an instant. He stretched his arm past Rin to place his hand on Miku's right shoulder. "Do you need to talk or anything?"

Miku shook her head.

"Nah, Miku." Rin laced her fingers loosely into Miku's. "You're never this quiet for this long unless something's up."

"Her girlfriend got  _kidnapped,_ " Luka repeated with annoyance. "You can't expect her to be peppy and bubbly at a time like this."

Miku lifted her head up to face her. "It's okay, Luka. They're just trying to help." She turned her eyes to the twins and added, "I'm sorry if I'm, like...distant, or something."

"Were you asleep with her?" Rin asked. The teasing, playful demeanor had faded into wide, intrigued eyes. It seemed Rin was only interested in being serious when it was for the sake of Miku's feelings. "Last night, I mean. She didn't get out of bed or anything?"

From the driver's seat, Meiko commented, "I think Miku would've noticed if someone broke into their room and took Gumi. So my guess is Gumi was called somewhere in the middle of the night."

"She didn't wake me up to tell me anything," Miku pointed out. Then her gaze lowered gloomily. "Well, maybe she tried. I guess I'm a heavy sleeper or something."

Luka twisted further in her seat to face Miku more directly. "Hey, hon, it's not your fault. It's no one's fault but that--"

"Sit up," Meiko commanded bluntly. "I don't have a license, but I know twisting around in a moving car like that is bad news."

"And leaving Kaito tumbling in the back isn't?" Rin questioned, a playful smirk re-emerging.

Kaito was on his side, trying fruitlessly to nap. Despite the bumps in the road, he opened one eye and said, "I don't really mind."

Rin giggled. "Me neither."

Luka cleared her throat as she obeyed Meiko. "It's no one's fault but the kidnapper," she continued, keeping her head turned toward Miku. "We ought to focus on how to rescue her."

" _Without_ that ransom bullshit," Meiko pointedly added. "And I honestly don't trust Gackpo to handle this in a good way. Have any of you thought of something yet?"

A thick silence followed, broken by Rin's cautious, slow words. "We could...get a crowbar...and beat the guy to death..."

"No murder either. We'll go to prison if it's not self defense."

"We'll wait until he starts it."

"I don't think that'll work in court."

Len's eyes brightened, like little blue-tinted lightbulbs. "We  _could_ fight him to distract him," he suggested. "Or, Miku could do it. And the rest of us could free Gumi. Or the other way around."

"That seems too easy," Luka replied. "But, it's a start, I guess."

"I think Miku should be the one to free Gumi," said Rin. "It's more romantic that way."

"Maybe at the convenience store they have knives or something," Kaito added.

Luka's eyes squinted in bewilderment. "What kind of convenience store sells knives?"

"My boyfriend lives in Peratsu," Len reminded them, "and I think that's on the way. He might have some stuff we can use."

Meiko lifted one hand off the wheel to gesture for everyone to quiet down. "Alright, so we'll stop at a gas station eventually. We can talk a little more then. For now let's just focus on getting to Terinten and getting Gumi away from trouble."

And with that skeleton of a plan, the van was leaving their hometown onto their mission.


	2. Fukase's Less Than Ideal Day

By the time Meiko had pulled in to the first gas station in Peratsu, Miku had dozed off. Rin reached her hand over to shake her awake, but Luka turned to push her away. "Let her be," she told her softly. "I doubt she'll get much sleep tonight."

Rin shrugged, muttering, "Not if she spends the whole afternoon sleeping," but complied nonetheless. She turned to Len, who was tapping his thumbs on his phone. "What are you doing?"

"I'm letting Fukase know what's going on," Len replied without looking up.

Rin glanced at Luka and Meiko, who were quietly discussing something that Rin couldn't quite hear. "Is that, um...safe? Kaito already blabbed to Gackpo--"

Kaito, who had just woken up a few minutes ago, grumbled, "He's her  _brother_!"

"--and the note says not to call the police, so if too many people find out--"

"It's fine, Rin." Len glanced up to smile, then returned his attention to his phone. "Fukase won't call the cops."

"Why not?"

"Because they'll find out about all the video games he's pirated and the weapons he's not supposed to own."

Rin sighed. "Right. I forgot."

Luka and Meiko turned to look at Len with concerned eyes. Meiko cleared her throat and slowly asked, "Is Fukase, uh...okay?"

"He's edgy," Len admitted. "I guess he keeps his weapons to be intimidating. I've never seen him use them."

Rin, who'd been exasperated a moment ago, suddenly gasped. " _That's_ how we'll get our knives!"

She shouted just loud enough to wake Miku, but no one seemed to realize this, as Miku was still rubbing her half-closed eyes drowsily and wondering what day it was.

"Well, I'm gonna go fill up on gas," Meiko announced, undoing her seat belt. "I have, like...a few thousand yen on me, I think. You guys want anything from the convenience store?"

"Get us some hot meals!" Rin suggested with an eager grin.

"I can't buy six entire meals. We'll stop at a McDonald's or something."

Rin pumped her fist. " _Yes!_ "

"Get Miku some candy."

Meiko tilted her head at Luka's suggestion.

Luka shrugged. "Just think it'd lift her mood a little."

Miku sat up a little straighter. "I'm not really hungry," she mumbled. "I'll just wait until we get to McDonald's."

"Nah, Luka's right." Meiko pushed the door open. "A little chocolate goes a long way sometimes, hon."

Rin exchanged an uncertain glance with Len.

"I'm getting you guys chocolate too," Meiko assured them before slamming the car door.

" _Yes!_ " Rin exclaimed again, under her breath this time.

Len looked down at his phone again. "I told Fukase that we're at his Seven Eleven. And he's gonna bring us some stuff."

Rin clasped her hands together. "It's gonna be  _knife time!_ "

"Stop talking about knives," said Luka, not bothering to look back at the twins.

Miku was looking out the window again. She caught Meiko's eye as the latter was feeding the gas tank. She smiled kindly. Miku tried to return it, but it felt tight and forced and she wasn't sure whether she was smiling or just gritting her teeth.

Meiko had always been very kind to Miku. Sure, she was sassy and blunt, but she was always willing to help Miku like this. Miku felt a little bad now for being so forceful with the risk of Meiko being punished by her father, or even the police. But that guilt faded with thoughts of Gumi, who was in much more danger.

The sun was at its peak, the clouds parted like fluffy white curtains to make way for golden light to spill over everything. It was fortunate that Meiko happened to be wearing her favorite crimson crop tank; the sweat slowly trailing down her rounded cheeks told Miku that this was another hot summer day.

 _I wonder if Gumi is getting enough air_ _,_ she pondered with a bit of melancholy.  _Is it dark, wherever she's locked up? If S is giving us ten whole days, I hope he's at least feeding her._

She nearly shuddered then, at the intrusive realization of what a kidnapper would be feeding their hostage.  _Is she being tortured? Is she going to get poisoned or something? Or even being fed human body parts? What if she gets Stockholm syndrome? What if Gackpo gets to her first and locks her up in his own house? What if he's even worse and he tries to--_

"Miku!" Something warm tugged aggressively on her arm, pulling Miku out of her rolling thoughts. It was Rin. "Are you listening?"

"W-what?" Miku softly stammered.

Rin raised her eyebrows. "Did you hear _anything_ I said?" She'd seem very annoyed if Miku didn't recognize the lines of worry on her face.

That worry didn't make Miku any less embarrassed, though. "No..." She hunched her shoulders to her reddening cheeks and squirmed.

Len leaned forward to look past Rin at Miku. "She was talking about whether or not Meiko's gonna just drive nonstop," he reminded her patiently. "If she's ever gonna sleep." He rolled his eyes. "Which,  _duh._ Of course we're gonna stop and rest."

Kaito piped up from behind the seats. "I could drive."

Luka narrowed her eyes in his direction. "I wouldn't trust you on a tricycle with training wheels, Kaito."

"Ouch."

Miku couldn't help giggling for a second. Rin beamed at her reaction, then turned back to Len. "Well, what if someone steals the van in the middle of the night? We can't risk leaving it in front of a motel."

"That's what car alarms are for."

"I sleep through alarms all the time!"

"Yeah, but not all of us are human disasters who sleep in until one in the afternoon."

"I only did that  _once_! Every other day I wake up before eleven!"

"I saw you sleeping in your room a few days ago just before we had dinner."

"I was  _napping_! That doesn't count!"

Of course, at this point it was easy to remind Miku of Gumi again.  _She's probably napping, too. Like she does when things go wrong and she wants everything to be better when she wakes up. I wish I could be there that fast._

There were so many appalling things that the kidnapper could be doing to Gumi. Once Miku realized that, it was impossible to stop seeing the image of the green-haired girl strapped to a chair, a bed, maybe even some kind of exam table. Or chained to the floor with cuffs so tight they cut into her wrists and her ankles. Or locked in a cage like a rabid animal. Getting fed bland food, spoiled food, poisoned food, dirt, rocks, glass, rotting carcasses, human organs, her own organs, her clothes ripped and filthy and bloody with unwelcome handprints branded onto her, and blood mixing with the tears streaming from her eyes, once vibrant green and now flickering into lifelessness, screaming with utterly agonized anguish--

" _Aaaaaaaaaugh!_ What the  _hell_?"

Miku snapped her head up at the shriek. Out of curiosity, she quickly rolled down her window to get a closer look at the wide-eyed Meiko, her hands held up defensively as she faced a much shorter figure shrouded in black. If Miku focused, she could hear the response.

"Whatcha mean? You know me, don't you?"

"Why are you dressed like that? What's with the bandage?"

The figure--Fukase, Miku figured--stuck out his tongue. "None of your business. Is Len with you? Can I see him?"

Meiko sighed and bent down to grab the handle of a plastic shopping bag. "Fine."

Fukase turned, and Miku could see his shit-eating grin and the white gauze wrapped around the left side of his face. They walked beside each other toward the van, with Meiko giving Fukase a quick glare every few seconds.

"Whoa, he's here _already_?" Rin observed, peering over Miku's shoulder. "Was he picking up cigarettes?"

"He doesn't smoke," Len informed her.

Rin scoffed. "Kinda doubt that."

Meiko opened the door to the driver's seat and held out three chocolate bars to the backseat, forcing a smile in spite of Fukase's presence. "Len..." She took a deep breath and sat down. "You can talk with him a bit, if you want."

Len nodded, protecting his chocolate bar from Rin, and opened the door to properly talk with Fukase on the other side of the car. Since Miku's window was still rolled down, she could hear them clearly. It wouldn't be nice to eavesdrop, but on the other hand, they did essentially start a conversation right in front of her, so what did they expect? The least Miku could do was look away, but she was too intrigued by Fukase's bandages. Just as Miku was absentmindedly tearing the wrapper of her candy bar, Len lifted himself up to his toes to kiss Fukase on his exposed cheek. "Did you get in a fight or something?" he asked with a furrowed brow.

Fukase took Len's hand, and they laced their fingers. "Yeah, sort of. Some dick threw acid at--"

" _What!?_ " Len's cry was echoed by Luka and Meiko, and it took a second for Miku to fully process the unfinished answer. This wasn't an area where acid attacks were common at all, but Miku still knew that some gauze wasn't going to do much. Why would someone attack Fukase with  _acid,_ of all things?

Fukase shrugged, as if it was just a papercut he was dealing with. "I mean, it didn't really work," he explained casually. "But he still got, like...a little splatter on my face."

Len's eyes were still bugging out of his head. "Who--who the  _fuck_ would--"

"That's what I thought too," Fukase agreed, his voice much calmer and more steady. "Like, I know a lot of people hate my guts--that's kinda why I'm dressed like a drug dealer today--but  _acid_? Where'd he even get something like that?"

Meiko spoke up. Her eyes were almost as wide as Len's, but she was trying very hard to keep a casual tone. "Who was it?"

"I dunno. It was the middle of the night and I was just walking Point."

"You walk your dog in the middle of the night?" Rin asked. Her mouth was already outlined with the remains of her chocolate bar.

Fukase ignored her, tapping his chin in thought. "I wonder if  _he_ was a drug dealer. Or if he was on drugs. But I don't look like a cop or anything. He was pacing around with a phone or something in the woods near my neighborhood, and I was like, 'Hey, uh, you doin' alright?' And boom." He snapped his fingers to point to his bandages. "Dunno why that was his first instinct. What a freak."

Luka cleared her throat. "Do you, er...what kind of acid was it?"

Fukase cocked his head. "How should I know?"

Luka drummed her fingers on the dashboard. "Do you remember what it smelled like or anything?"

"Nah, I was busy screaming and trying to stop my whole face from getting corroded."

Meiko raised an eyebrow at Luka. "Why does it--"

Before she could finish, a roar erupted from behind them. Everyone jerked their heads toward the sound. Miku and Rin peered over the backs of their seats to see Kaito sprawled out with his phone face-down over his eyes, snoring like a dying bear.

Meiko blinked. "Anyway...why does it matter, Luka?"

With Kaito snoring and Rin trying desperately to stifle her own laughter, Luka answered, "I have a feeling that the guy who threw acid at Fukase might have something to do with the kidnapping. And I studied enough chemistry in high school to know what acids a kidnapper might need. Like removing traces of blood, for example."

Traces of blood? There were so many things that could imply. Did S have to injure Gumi in order to kidnap her? And if S was willing to throw acid at someone, attacking them with a knife or even a gun wouldn't be too farfetched. Miku focused all her attention on the conversation to drive away the bile of intrusive thoughts.

"I don't think the acid weirdo kidnapped anyone," Fukase replied. "He wasn't dragging around a sack or anything. But he did yell something about witnesses when he hurt me, if that helps."

Len had recovered from his shock by now, so he asked, "Do you know what he was saying on the phone?"

"No, sorry. I couldn't really see him too well, either." Fukase crossed his arms. "I  _think_ he had red hair. Lighter than mine. I'm not sure, though."

Len rubbed the back of his neck. "Then if you didn't hear what he was saying, why'd he need to attack you?"

"If he  _does_ have something to do with Gumi," Luka reasoned, "maybe he knows who Gumi's friendly with."

Fukase laughed softly. "I wouldn't say she's  _friendly_ with me."

"No, but she's friends with your boyfriend. And you're friends with her girlfriend."

It made sense to Miku. If S knew that she and Gumi were lovers, and where they both lived, it wasn't much of a stretch that he would also know their friends.

Rin tugged on Miku's arm with wide eyes. "You're friends with Fukase?"

Miku shrugged. "He's not that bad. He's good at Pokémon."

Fukase snapped finger guns at her.

"I wish you could come with us," Len sighed, pulling Fukase into a hug. "It's hard to be stressed when I'm with you. But there's no room in the van, unless we make you sit on my lap or something." Then he flinched away. "What is _in_ your coat?"

"Oh, yeah, I totally forgot." Fukase yanked the zipper of his weird cloak down and spread out his arms, revealing knives and blades of all sorts strapped inside. "Ta-da! Take what you need."

Meiko was staring at Fukase like he was a criminal, which he technically was, but not the harmful kind. "Why do you have so _many_?" 

"In case this sorta situation ever happens," Fukase replied as Len began to gather knives. "You never know when you're gonna have to cut a bitch."

"Thank you so much, babe." Len tightened a fist around the handles of six knives, then held them toward Miku. "Can you, uh...pass these around? I'll be back in the van in--"

"Shit!" Fukase hurriedly closed up his cloak. "There's a cop here. I didn't even notice. You guys better get outta here, too, 'cause I'm pretty sure Meiko isn't supposed to drive."

Meiko narrowed her eyes at him, not looking away until he turned tail. Miku was quietly handing everybody their knives, including Len as he threw himself in the backseat, then tossed the last one over her shoulder.

Kaito's snoring stopped. "Ow! Who threw a  _knife_ at me?"

"Nice," Rin snickered.

The van jolted ahead, giving everyone whiplash except Meiko, her back arched and her eyes intently focused. "Sorry. The kid's right. We gotta avoid getting stopped by the police."

"So you're speeding?" Luka questioned. "I don't think they'd suspect you if you just drove normally, Meiko. You're at least old enough to have a license."

"I'm not taking the risk," Meiko insisted. "Besides, we can get to a motel faster this way."

Len smirked triumphantly in Rin's direction. She just rolled her eyes and continued licking chocolate stains off her fingers. "Are they gonna let us take our knives?" she asked.

"No harm in leaving them in here," Meiko decided.

Miku lowered her eyes to the dagger in her hand. The handle was nice and firm. She liked holding it, but she'd have to find somewhere to put it so she didn't accidentally slice up her legs. The blade looked sharp enough to reach bone if driven hard enough. If Miku came face-to-face with S, it would be easy for her to incapacitate him.

But why did she feel reluctant? It wasn't as if she had any sort of sympathy for him. The mere thought of what he could be doing to Gumi made her want to vomit. She just didn't feel like she had the energy. That brought a pang of guilt to her when she glanced at the empty chocolate wrapper.  _Meiko spent money to make me feel better, and it didn't work. I hope she doesn't notice._ She still just wanted to sleep like Gumi always did. Maybe when she opened her eyes, everything would be okay. It was unlikely, but either way, Miku at least got to escape her thoughts for a while.

As the van dangerously sped ahead at what felt like a hundred miles per hour, Miku slipped her dagger into the pocket on the back of Luka's seat and rested her head against the window. It'd be hard to nap with the constant bumping, but eventually, Miku would escape her worries, just for a little while. Maybe she'd even dream of seeing Gumi's lovely face again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> idk if it was obvious but the city and town names aren't real Japanese cities/towns. they're almost anagrams but not really
> 
> also yeah point is a dog here instead of...whatever he's supposed to be


	3. Possible Suspects

"McDonald's! McDonald's! McDonald's!"

Rin started chanting as soon as she saw the tip of the golden arches. Len and Kaito, of course, joined in.

 _"_ _McDonald's_! _McDonald's! McDonald's!"_

They erupted into cheers as soon as the van pulled into the drive-thru. Miku was awake by now, so they could be as loud as they wanted. She wasn't quite in the mood to join the McDonald's hype, though. She didn't really have an appetite.

"I don't want anything," she told Meiko quietly.

Rin stopped hollering to gently punch her in the shoulder. "Oh, yes you do! You said you were gonna wait 'til we got here to eat!"

Miku bit her lip. "Did I...?"

Meiko nodded firmly. "We're not lettin' you starve. And that's final."

She'd just have to forcefully swallow a cheeseburger, then. She didn't pay much attention to what everyone else was ordering, other than Kaito getting a McFlurry and nothing else and getting called a human disaster by Meiko.

"Oh, wait, Meiko." Kaito got on his knees to make better eye contact with her. "Aren't you worried about getting caught by the cashier?"

Meiko shrugged. "It's hard to drive recklessly in a drive-thru." She began to pull up to the next window, the sudden movement sending Kaito back to the car floor.

"Hey, Miku." Rin just wouldn't leave her be today, but at least she was being kind. She leaned in and intently stared. "Do you need to talk, or anything?"

Miku shrugged and averted her eyes.

Rin lightly rested her hand on top of Miku's. "I know it, like...super sucks right now. But I really think it'll all be okay. It shouldn't be too difficult to get Gumi out of there."

Miku crossed her arms tightly around herself. "It's not about that. I have no idea what S is doing to Gumi."

Rin tilted her head. "'S'?"

"The kidnapper," Len reminded her, as Meiko began handing out the burgers and Kaito's McFlurry. "That's how he signed the ransom note, anyway."

"Ohhh, yeah," Rin nodded, letting go of Miku's hand to accept her beloved teriyaki burger. "Does that, like, stand for something? Or is he just trying to be really mysterious? Like a Phantom Thief F situation?"

Len also had a teriyaki burger in his hands. "He kinda has to be mysterious, right?"

Luka turned her head. "If we knew his real name," she said, "I'm not sure it would make much of a difference. We already know where to go."

"Wait, guys." Kaito popped up from behind the seats. "Hear me out."

"No," said Rin.

Kaito ignored her. "What if the kidnapper's pretending to be on our side? Like, say Fukase did--"

Len clenched a fist and glared at him. He opened his mouth, probably to cuss out Kaito and tell him to choke, but Meiko quickly intervened. "Hypothetically. Obviously he doesn't think that."

" _Thank you,_ " Kaito muttered. "Yeah, so, say Fukase was the kidnapper all along. He could've met us at the gas station to get information on how we're getting to Gumi. He _didn't_ \--" He held up his hands while glancing at Len. "But, if he kidnapped Gumi, he would've."

Luka smiled politely and nodded. "You know, that makes just enough sense for it to be a good point. If we don't know S's real name, we can't know who not to trust."

Rin clapped her hands together. "You're right, Luka!"

"Well, I-I was one who--"

Rin deliberately avoided acknowledging Kaito in any way. "So, uh, Miku." She smiled, seeing Miku actually take a bite out of her burger. "You know anyone whose romanized name starts with an S? Last or first?"

Miku shook her head. "Not any boys. Except Fukase and Kaito."

Rin grunted with disappointment. "Alright, uh...how about...nicknames?"

"Oh!" Len quickly swallowed a bite of food. "Xingchen! She goes by Stardust!"

"She's a girl, dummy."

"S could've lied about being a man."

"By that logic," Luka pointed out, "the fact that they signed with the letter S might be a red herring, too."

Rin was even more disappointed now. "So we have no real clues, then," she sighed, dejectedly continuing to eat her teriyaki burger.

Len did the same, then quietly asked, "So are we ruling Xingchen out?"

"She moved back to China after we graduated high school." Rin elbowed him. "Dummy."

Len tightened his hold on his burger. "Don't do that."

Meiko had been busy driving and eating at the same time, but when slowing the car down she found a chance to actually speak. "We  _do_ have some clues. They know Miku and Gumi's names, they know they're dating, and they know where they live. But that's it, really." As Miku began to ponder a list of suspects, Meiko added, "Oh, and I think it's safe to assume that S is an adult. And it's hard to take your hostage on a bus or anything, so they can probably drive."

There were still quite a lot of people that fit that description. Five of them were in this car, so that helped narrow it down the tiniest bit. There was also the man with light red hair who'd attacked Fukase, but Miku couldn't really think of anyone like that who fit the description. Maybe Fukase had seen his attacker's hair under the wrong lighting.

Well, Miku did know one person with light red hair. "Akira Kano," she whispered. "I saw him sometimes in high school, when I went to Gumi's house. He was friends with Gackpo, but I didn't see him anymore by the time Gumi and I--"

"What?" Rin was trying very hard to listen through the sounds of the car engine running and the mouths chewing. "Miku, are you monologuing?"

Miku cleared her throat and spoke louder. "Do you know Akira Kano?"

"Nope!" Rin popped the last piece of burger in her mouth. "Nefah herr uh hih..."

Luka had the decency to wait until she was finished chewing to speak up. "I know him. He used to hang out with Gackpo all the time before he transferred out of our school."

"Oh, right!" Meiko kept her eyes ahead, but she still quickly glanced over at Luka with a small smile. "Didn't you two used to date? Before you came out?"

"No, people blew that whole thing out of proportion." Luka was definitely being honest. There was no trace of red on her face reflected in the rearview mirror. Miku was pretty relieved with this, considering the kind of person Gackpo was. "He just tutored me for a while in our first year. I started going to someone else once he started getting weird."

Miku and Rin exchanged a curious look as Meiko echoed their thoughts. "Weird? You ever tell us anything about this?"

Luka shrugged. "Maybe not. It was years ago, so I don't think too much about it anymore." She crossed her long legs and gazed out the car window. "Let's see...first he asked if I liked girls, and I said yes. I was only about...fifteen, I believe, so I didn't think much of it. And I'd always see Gumi when I went over there--we didn't really talk, but I saw her--but after I told Gackpo that I like girls I stopped seeing her. And that other guy, Akira, he started coming over around the same time every day as I was. But he wasn't there to be tutored. He just kind of sat around and..." She trailed off, then said, "I don't really know how to explain it. I got bad vibes from him."

"Sounds like you dodged a bullet," Meiko commented. "But what does that weird stuff have to do with you being gay?"

"I think he was being protective of Gumi."

Miku didn't mean to say it aloud, so the words seemed quiet. Luka heard it nonetheless. She raised her eyebrows. "You think he was trying to hide Gumi away from me? I didn't even know her well enough to have a crush on her or anything. I actually thought she was only twelve, at the time."

"And what does that all have to do with Akira?" Meiko added.

"He and Gackpo were friends." Miku twirled a finger through one of her pigtails. "But when I went over to hang out with Gumi, neither of them ever tried to do anything to get me and Gumi away."

"Well, you went over there for Gumi," Luka pointed out. "I went there to see Gackpo. And I'm not sure Gumi would've warned Gackpo every single time you visited, or anything like that."

Rin and Len had nothing to contribute, but they sure liked to eavesdrop and pretend they understood. Rin gave up at this point and fell back against the car seat. "I'm  _really_ confused."

Luka lifted her chin up to look over everyone's head. "Hey, Kaito? You awake?"

"Yeah?"

"You know anything about Akira Kano?"

"Hm..." Kaito hummed for a second in thought. "I never hung out with him much, and Gackpo's always been all private about him. All I know is that he moved to Peratsu a while back, before Gackpo moved to Terinten."

It was possible, then. He almost certainly lived in the same town as Fukase.

Luka twisted around to face Miku again. "Do you think Akira has a hand in this? I'm not sure he would've been able to kidnap anyone."

"His hair," Miku reminded her. "Remember what Fukase said?"

"Ohhh, you think he attacked him?" Luka sat back up to face forward. "That makes sense. But I don't really know him well enough to know what to do with that information."

"Yo." Meiko waved a hand in the general direction of everyone else. "We're almost at the motel. It's near the border between this city and Fusaho."

Miku squinted at the digital clock. It glowed  _4:12_  in flickering green."Isn't it a bit early?"

"It'll be too dark by the time we get to the next stop," Meiko explained. "Fusaho's a pretty big city. And I need time to figure out what the hell I'm doing."

"Also," Luka added, "we don't want her to fall asleep at the wheel."

"Yeah. Y'all woke me up at eleven-thirty, so I need to make up for it."

The twins exchanged a glance. "How late do you usually sleep?" Len asked.

"Like...two?" Meiko shrugged. "I don't have a job or anything, so..."

Rin grinned and leaned forward. "Aha! You're the _real_ human disaster!"

It was understandable, then, to stop at a motel to rest now. It should've been, at least. Miku knew it should've been. But she couldn't stop the train of worry and guilt to start running through her thoughts again.

_How selfish. You're going to sleep well in a nice big clean bed while Gumi's tied up, probably crying and bleeding, probably cold and scared and lonely. Starving. You just had a good cheeseburger, and Meiko pitied you enough to waste her money on some chocolate for you. You just ate it up greedily while Gumi's starving, unless she's being fed rotten, spoiled, disgusting food, food that you should be eating because you're the one who deserves to be locked up and tortured instead of that innocent angel whose love you don't deserve. You're just using this tragedy for your own selfish needs, aren't you? An excuse to manipulate your friends into spoiling and pitying you. You're absolutely disgusting. Gumi is going to die, cold and scared and hungry and alone, and it's going to be all your fault because you dared to fall in love with her._

Miku tugged on Rin's arm, prompting her to turn her head. "What is it, Miku?"

"Um..." Miku shifted uncomfortably. "C-can I, um...hug you...?"

Rin smiled and pulled her as close as the seat belts would allow. "Yeah, 'course."

The thoughts melted away in Rin's embrace.

* * *

There were only two beds in the motel room. Meiko assigned herself, Luka and Miku to one bed, Rin and Len to the other, and Kaito to the couch. Kaito was actually pretty relieved about not needing to share. For once, Miku envied him. If she was the one on the couch, she'd not only be alone, but she'd be able to sneak out in the middle of the night more easily.

Miku took naps in the van because it was harmless. She wasn't the one driving, and the van would keep moving. This was different. Their trip to Terinten was on pause. The more time they wasted here, the more time Gumi would spend suffering. But there was nothing Miku could do. Meiko had to rest eventually.

But she didn't have to. She decided to tiptoe out at midnight after a few long hours of waiting for everyone to fall asleep. She balled up the bedsheets underneath the blanket to make a decent decoy. It wouldn't fool anybody, but they wouldn't think too much of it in the dark.

 _Rin was right earlier,_ she justified to herself.  _Someone should make sure the van doesn't get stolen or anything. And I'm the only one awake now._

Miku didn't bother pulling on her sandals or anything. She didn't care if the rocky cement dug into her feet with every step she took pacing around the van.

She didn't care if her legs started to ache. It would keep her from passing out.

Even if it started to burn. Even if the humidity of the summer night started to soak into her. It would keep her awake. 

She tried talking to herself, but she could only breathe as she forced her legs to walk around. She tried to focus her eyes to make sure no one was sneaking up on her. She thought she saw movement, and she stopped just to look closely at it.

It looked like a person, approaching her. That was all Miku could register before her knees buckled and collapsed into darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hate mcdonald's......the milkshakes are good though


	4. A Conversation With Luka

"Miku?"

There'd been a second of blank darkness after the sight of an intruder. The only clue of her location was the filthy, jagged surface against the side of her body. Everything else was spinning, and her eyes couldn't pull themselves open.

"Miku, I...I know it's hard to sleep at a time like this, but what on Earth are you doing out here?"

The parking lot. Was she still in the parking lot? Something cold and smooth replaced the harsh sensation against the side of her head, and the world tilted. She slowly fluttered open her eyes.

"Are you feeling alright?"

It was still dark, but faint colors fuzzed into her vision. The most noticable of them was a light pink, then a glimmering sky blue.

"Talk to me, Miku." This voice was soft, calm, patient. "Are you feeling alright?"

Miku blinked again, and saw Luka's frame more clearly. Her eyes were wide, her mouth slightly agape in confused concern. Her arm was stretched out, her hand held against the back of Miku's head.

And she was soaking wet.

"What happened?" murmured Miku, still trying to focus.

Luka sighed with a small smile. "I, er...I was outside. And I saw you pacing around the van. I started going up to you, and...you just fell to the ground." Her smile faded and her brow tightened. "How long were you just walking like that?"

Miku closed her eyes again, just to think, just to remember the clock's red numbers glowing from the nightstand. "Midnight...since midnight."

"So you were just walking in circles for an entire hour?"

Miku opened her eyes again, trying to look at Luka more directly, but it was proving difficult. Not only was Miku lightheaded, but even in the dark she thought she saw Luka's nipples through her shirt and it was distracting. "I-I...had to make sure nobody broke into the van," she stammered.

"I really don't think so, Miku." Luka placed her hands gently on Miku's shoulders, holding her upright. "There's a bathtub in our motel room. We'll get you cleaned up, and then we'll talk."

Miku was still too dizzy to stand, but fortunately Luka had strong enough arms to carry her like a bride. Miku wanted to close her heavy eyes, but she quickly noticed that Luka wasn't carrying her the way she'd come. "This is the wrong way, Luka."

"No, I know. I need to, um...do this first."

Apparently, this motel had a swimming pool. Luka gently set Miku down on the grass and retrieved something from the edge. Miku didn't lift her head until Luka was holding her again, so it took a few minutes for her to recognize the pair of lacy white undergarments dangling from Luka's left elbow.

"Uh...Luka...?" Miku couldn't help glancing at her chest. "Are you...not wearing a bra...?"

"Never mind that," Luka hurriedly replied. "I brought the room key with me, so we can go right in to the bathroom. Do you want me to look away while you undress?"

Miku was probably barely alert enough to get undressed on her own, let alone care if Luka was watching. They'd been close friends since junior high school, after all. After seven years of trusting and confiding in each other, she didn't mind if Luka saw her naked.

But, considering how drenched Luka was, and the scent of chlorine drifting off of her, Miku suspected that Luka had rushed to cover herself before waking up Miku, so maybe the sentiment wasn't mutual. Or maybe Luka really didn't want Miku to know that she liked skinny dipping. It was hard to say.

"It doesn't matter to me," Miku answered quickly.

Luka nodded and didn't say anything else. Miku's vision was clearing, and she studied Luka's face. The outdoor lights reflected in her eyes, full of thoughts that Miku couldn't read. Her silky pink hair was darkened by the pool water, clinging to her warm skin and hiding the movement of her round cheeks. Her lips were tight, almost like her jaw was clamped down on them. What was she thinking about? Was she going to scold Miku once she started a bath? Was she going to interrogate her? Miku just wanted to fall asleep now. She was tired, in more ways than her heavy eyelids.

Miku didn't pay attention to the dark bedroom, the silence only broken by muffled snoring. Her eyes nearly closed when Luka flicked on the bathroom light to fill their vision.

"I can't," Miku mumbled.

"Hm?"

"I'm really tired, Luka."

So Luka sat her on the floor and gently undressed her. Her fingers were delicate, hesitating before pinching every article. Miku moved a little to make things easier. When Luka slowly reached for her panties, the last thing on her, Miku suddenly had an urge to tense up and flinch. "S-sorry. I'll do that myself."

_You useless bitch. You're making poor Luka do all the work for you. It's not that hard to take your own clothes off. Don't be so whiny._

The water was refreshingly icy when she stepped in, and it immediately lent her enough energy to keep her eyes open as she lay back and turned her head to face Luka, who was skillfully putting on her bra without taking off her shirt. She was able to keep eye contact with Miku as she softly but firmly demanded, "Why were you outside?"

"I told you." Miku reached for a bar of sea green soap to lather onto her hands. "I had to make sure nobody broke into the van."

"Why? The car alarm would've woken us up."

It should've made sense to accept that, but she didn't. She'd just been using it to excuse herself from sleeping. Because... "I can't sleep in a nice clean bed while Gumi's getting tied up and starved, or worse. It's not fair. I had to do something useful."

"Wearing yourself out isn't useful to anyone, Miku." Luka was now casually slipping out of her shorts, and Miku distracted herself by lathering the soap over her body. "Everyone is already worried enough about Gumi without needing to worry about you."

"Then don't," Miku simply responded. "Just forget about me 'til Gumi's okay."

"Even if we wanted to, we couldn't do that." Miku felt chilled fingers stroke through her dampened hair. "You're our friend. It's impossible to just stop caring about you."

While they were in junior high school, Miku had learned that Luka had quite a bit of empathy. Sometimes, it was too much for her own good. Miku hadn't been in her year, but there were times when she heard other students talk about how Luka had suddenly broken down crying in the middle of class. At home, too, when they hung out together, Luka would sometimes vent to Miku about her worries, about how guilty she felt for not being able to help the people she cared about, blaming herself for their unhappiness.

That sort of sounded like how Miku felt, now that she thought about it. So it wasn't like Luka didn't understand. She just couldn't say anything to convince Miku that she could sleep or take a break without doing anything wrong. And that, in turn, would just send Luka into panicked despair. 

"What a mess," she muttered, watching the soap bubbles rise in the bathwater. She swirled around her fingers to watch them pop away.

"Gumi wouldn't want you to feel like this either," said Luka. "She won't be angry with you for taking some time to rest."

Miku shook her head. "It's not just about that. She's gonna be put through more and more pain. I  _can't_ rest like this."

"I see."

They spent a few minutes in silence. The dirt dissolved from Miku's skin and fogged up the bathwater. She noticed a hint of crimson, and looked closely at herself. She'd skinned her knees, probably from when she'd collapsed on the pavement. It didn't hurt, so she hadn't even realized it until now.

Luka sighed, not out of exasperation, but out of the same kind of sadness that dwelled in Miku. "You should at least lie down in bed with Meiko and me for the rest of the night. There's nothing more we can do until morning. Nothing more  _you_ can do. And that's not your fault, that's just how it is." She stroked Miku's hair again. "And it's not as if you're not doing enough. It's hard to think right with this sort of thing going on, but I know you're a kind, smart girl and we'll help you fix this."

Maybe it was selfish to genuinely smile up at Luka and whisper, "Thank you," but Miku didn't think too much of that right now. It wasn't as if she was being conceited. "You're a good person, too. A really good person. I'm really, really glad that we're friends, Luka."

"So do I." Luka's smile widened, and she stood back up. "Are you ready to get out?"

* * *

"Rise and shine,  _bitches_!"

Sometimes Miku, and probably the others, would wonder why they decided to bring Kaito along on this rescue mission. This was one of the times where Miku remembered one of the things he was good for: getting up early enough to get things done. It wasn't exactly something people usually voiced their appreciation for, though.

"Get out of my house," Rin mumbled, her eyes still closed and hair stuck in her mouth.

"Don't call us bitches," Len simultaneously protested with a yawn.

They had to take showers one at a time. Fortunately, they were all quick about it. Clothes were a bit of an issue, since they hadn't taken to time to bring stuff to change into. Everyone slept in their daytime clothes, or in their underwear. Miku was fine with just sleeping without her pants on, but she couldn't speak for anyone else. Hopefully, they wouldn't end up staining their clothes with anything gross like blood or vomit.

Miku's shorts had some tiny bits of pavement stuck on them. She dusted it off on the way to the van. As she got into the backseat, she noticed a small, blue light blinking through her pocket.

 _Who could that be?_ She pulled the phone out with curiosity.  _The only people who usually text me are in this van right now. The only other person is..._

Miku pressed the button to light up her screen. The notification window was opened to something that yanked Miku's heart right up her throat.

_GUMI sent a picture._


	5. Gumi's Message

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter has more profanity than usual bc lily's in it so if you're sensitive to that then just uh. keep your guard up.

_GUMI sent a picture._

How could that be possible? If S gave Gumi access to her phone, she would've texted Miku before now, right? Or had she escaped somehow? Either way, why would Gumi just send a picture with no actual text attached?

"Oh, shit." Rin was peering over at the screen. "You got a text from her?"

Len leaned in her direction as well. "From who?"

"Gumi."

This made everyone else in the car flinch and swivel to stare at Rin and Miku. Kaito had to practically throw himself over the back seats, and Meiko nearly pounded the brakes. Luka recovered quickly and nudged her to remind her not to crash into anything.

"What does it say?" Len demanded, with Rin nodding impatiently.

"Just a picture." Miku was as puzzled as they were, and in addition to that, her voice was shaking a little. Why was that? Was this a bad omen?

Miku unlocked her phone and opened up the message.

_Oh my God. Oh my fucking God._

"What was that?"

"Miku dropped her phone."

"Careful, Meiko, it's dangerous to slam the brakes like that."

_It's only been a day. Just one day. Twenty-four hours. Out of ten days. Out of two hundred forty hours. Is that how long this is going to happen?_

" _Aaaaahh!_ "

"What bastard would chain her up like that? Kidnapping her's bad enough, but  _Christ_."

"Are those what I think they are?"

_Something horrible happened. Something so, so horrible happened. Brainwashing or rape or, why her, **why her?**_

"Miku?"

"Rin, look at her hands."

"What about them? You think her fingers are broken?"

_All because, because, because I couldn't fucking stop anything, stop her from getting hurt or drugged or tricked, stop that scumbag from taking her, why, why, why?_

"Oh, right, you know sign language, don't you? You think she's signing something?"

"That might be a stretch--"

"No, no, I don't think so. Gumi knows it too. She's like me, she goes nonverbal sometimes. We both know JSL."

_Why her? Why Gumi? Why would any human being want to hurt this angel? What did she do? I don't understand, I don't understand why...how could someone be so cruel?_

"Um...I think she's spelling out _ka-ku._ But..."

"Kaku? Nuclear? Is she spelling out nuclear? Are there nuclear weapons or something?"

"I don't think so. I hope not. She already looks injured enough as is."

_Why wasn't I kidnapped? I would've tried to tell her not to worry, or something, I deserve that, I deserve to be tied up so tight my wrists are bleeding, I deserve to have my clothes ripped apart just to be tortured, I'd give anything to be there instead._

"Wait, so who took this?"

"It must've been the kidnapper. What I'm wondering is  _why._ "

"Yeah, what're they getting out of this? Are they just taunting?"

_So much blood. Already, so much blood. She'll be dead before we get there. Violated and tied up and blind and dead. She can't make it ten days. It's too late, already. I should've just driven myself. I used my friends, and now Gumi's dying, because of me._

"What does kaku mean? What is she saying?"

"Well, it's just a photo, and she has just two hands. It might just be part of a word."

"That could be anything, though.  _Kei_ kaku, kaku _mei..._ "

_Right, I'll die. I'll die, just sit here and choke on my own vomit. And drop dead. It's easier that way. They won't have to pity me, I won't be alone._

"Wait, so why can't she just use the sign for that word? Is there no sign for _nuclear_ , or  _revolution_?"

"Oh, also...some signs you need to move the hands around for. Maybe she's saying ka-gu, or ga-ku, or, um..."

"Gaku?"

_I'm such a fucking idiot. Of course I can't do anything. She might as well be gone now, right? So I'll die, I'll die, right here. Right, the dagger, it's somewhere in this van, I'll die, I'll die, I'll die, I'll die, I'll die, I'll die, I'll die, **I'll die, I'll die, I'll die, I'll die, I'll die, I'll die, I'll die, I'll DIE, I'LL DIE\--**_

* * *

"It's okay. It's gonna be okay. We're almost halfway there. She's alive, we're going to find her, and you'll both be safe, okay?"

Her eyes were closed tight, the lids held together by hot tears. They'd burn her eyesight if she opened her eyes. It didn't matter. It didn't matter. Even when the rough yet gentle fingers brushed against her face. It didn't matter.

The mere thought of what she saw provoked her to scream, but it was muffled by her lips and her tight throat.

"Shh, shh, it's okay, Miku. It's okay."

"It's not," she finally managed to mumble. She knew she was practically sobbing, but she didn't care. "You saw her, didn't you?"

She opened her eyes. Although the world was blurred, she recognized Len as the one holding her. He began to rub up and down Miku's back. Miku would smile if she could. He knew she always liked that.

"Listen," he said. "Yeah, I did see her. I can't imagine how bad she feels. But her eyes were open, and I know she was trying to send a message with her hands. She knows sign language, remember? She still has faith in you. Can't you accept that?"

It should've been easy, but the image of Gumi, lying on her side on a concrete floor, chains wrapped all around her, blood trickling from her lips and wrists and bare, dirt-speckled legs into the pool beneath her...it was burned into Miku's mind. Yes, her hands were spelling a clue. Yes, her eyes were open. But the hands were bruised, cracked and bloody, tightly restrained against her back, and her eyes were swollen with tears.

"She doesn't deserve that," Miku murmured. She blinked, hoping she could look at Len more directly. She couldn't. "Why would anyone need to hurt her like that, Len? Just for ten million yen?"

"I don't know. Honestly...I'm not sure S even thinks you have that much money." Len grabbed something with his free hand that Miku couldn't make out. "I know I'm paranoid sometimes and all, but I wonder if this is a trap. Gumi's phone's still tracking her location, and it's exactly where we're going. So the kidnapper isn't misleading us to somewhere else. So..."

"But they have her phone right now," pointed out Luka, reminding Miku she was still in the van with five other people. "So they could have tossed it in the wrong place...I guess that would be a stretch, though. They were able to take that picture, after all."

Miku came to readjust to her surroundings. She was leaned against the car door, and Rin and Len had switched seats. Miku squinted and noticed Rin tapping at her cell phone.

"Can't find anything that makes sense," she sighed. "Maybe the fucker will take another picture of her with her hands showing, and she can tell us something else."

Kaito was still gripping the backs of the seats. "Is it really that important? We know where she is anyway, don't we?"

"It'd be useful to know S's identity," Luka responded. "Once Gumi's safe, we can call the authorities. I'm not sure they'll show their face when we arrive."

"Yeah," Meiko agreed. "They're probably sorta waiting in the dark for the ransom money we don't have."

The van was moving forward again. Len handed the phone to Miku, but she shook her head and tightened her arms around herself. She refused to risk seeing her love in that condition again. Instead, Len leaned over to hug her as best as he could despite the seatbelts. Rin tried to lighten the mood by making fun of Kaito and accusing him of wearing crocs, but the tension was fading too slowly, and Miku noticed Rin's frequent glances in her direction. 

At one point, everyone was quiet for just a second too long, and so they were all startled when Miku's phone vibrated against the car seat.

 _Oh, what now?_ Miku wriggled out of Len's arms and held her hands to her ears.  _Are they gonna make me listen to her cry?_

"Oh, it's Lily!" The relief was obvious in Rin's voice. "Go ahead and answer her, Miku!"

Len handed the vibrating phone to her again, lit up with Lily's name on the screen. Miku's shoulders relaxed. Lily was a safe person to talk to. Maybe she could help them somehow.

Miku cleared her throat before tapping the screen to pick up the call. She also tapped the speaker button, so everyone could hear. "Hi, Lily!" she greeted, as happily as she could manage.

"Hey." Lily didn't sound too enthusiastic. "Uh, what's that rumbly noise? Are you in a car or something?"

"Yup! My friends are here, too!"

Taking that as a cue, Rin flashed a peace sign, knowing full well Lily couldn't see it, and yelled, "What's up Lil-yyy!'

"Hey, Rin," Lily replied, amusement hiding in her voice. "So, uh, actually, I was wondering...oh, is Gumi with you?"

Miku glanced around at everyone else. Was it too risky to tell Lily the situation? She was extremely empathetic, like Luka. Unlike Luka, she didn't always take it out on herself. Lily would be furious if she knew what was being done to Gumi. It wouldn't be good for her.

"No," Len answered carefully.

"Oh, okay, so, Miku?" Miku bit her lip as she listened. "You have any idea why Gumi isn't talking to me? She never takes this long to answer my texts or my calls. She's not mad at me or anything, right?"

The van finally stopped at a red light, and Meiko turned her head to whisper softly to Luka. Miku barely picked up the words, "Should we tell her?"

Luka had no issue speaking at a normal volume. "It's fine. I don't think it's really harmful information. I'm sure Lily knows how to be careful if--"

"Wait, hey!" Lily's voice sounded a bit higher, with more obvious concern. "Did something happen to Gumi?"

Rin, Len and Miku all shook their heads in Luka's direction, but she didn't acknowledge their silent protest. "She was kidnapped."

Lily probably answered with something like "What?" It was hard to tell because she screeched it so loudly that it clipped the feedback. Rin covered her ears for a second. Lily quieted down just enough to be clear, though the rage in her words threatened to break through again. "Who? What fucking _bitch_ took her?"

"W-we don't know," Miku stammered, not sure if the receiver would pick up on it. The van started moving again, so that didn't help. "Um..."

"Somebody in Terinten," Kaito finally spoke up.

"I'd ask why Kaito's around, but that's not important right now. Where? You got an address so I can beat the piss out of this fuck?"

Kaito, thinking before speaking for once, slumped a little, hiding his face behind the seats. His answer was still clear enough for Lily. "We're on our way to rescue her already, so..."

"So  _what_? Why didn't you just call me? I'm the one who lives here!"

Luka nodded. "That's true...Lily lives in Terinten. Not very far from that address, either."

"Yeah!" Lily was nearly growling now. "So tell me! You  _do_ have an address, don't you?"

"Miku?" Luka gestured to her. "You still have that ransom note, right?"

 _"Fuck_ ransom! Only payment this shit's getting is a broken skull and some kicks in the balls!"

Miku reached into her pocket, where the note was still crumpled up. "Are you...sure that's okay?"

"Luka," Meiko warned, "I don't know if that's a good idea."

Luka shook her head. "Lily's very strong, and she's clever. And she lives close enough to that place to help Gumi before she gets too hurt. I think she'll help us a lot."

Maybe Luka was right about this. Luka was a very smart girl, after all. And the image was still fresh in Miku's mind. Even if Lily did get hurt, it would be a small price to pay for Gumi's safety. 

Miku held the note out to Luka, and Luka read the address out loud. When she finished, Lily simply said, "Thanks. I'll let you know when I get her outta whatever hellhole's she's in."

She hung up without a farewell.

Eventually, everyone seemed to feel more at ease, knowing Lily was helping them so much. Rin poked more fun at Len and Kaito, and Meiko suggested that they stop at some good fast food places for lunch and dinner. Miku managed to hide that image away from her memory and focus more on being optimistic.

They got to a motel later to sleep, and the night was quiet, allowing Miku's thoughts to roam. Fortunately, the effort she put into her optimism changed those thoughts.

_Maybe it's good that Lily is taking this long. She was probably preparing to defend herself against S. Actually, maybe she already saved Gumi. And they're just trying to recover at Lily's house. Yeah, that's probably it. I don't think Lily could fail this. I just hope Gumi isn't upset that we didn't think of asking for her help sooner._

Of course, that optimism was just a shield from the crushing weight of reality, blinding her from thinking logically. But at least, for now, she could get a full night's rest in her false hope.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im excited now because this story is approaching the exciting parts...if you were already excited, get ready to be DOUBLE EXCITED (unless it's actually way boring in which case i'm sorry that i let u down)


	6. Breakthrough to Independence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm writing this part of the note at 9:54 pm on september 12. i just remembered that japan has left hand traffic. fuck.
> 
> OKAY uh i think maybe this is kind of a long chapter oops...i wanted to end this chapter a little sooner but that wouldn't leave enough for the next chapter idk...i think you'll see what i mean

They woke up and prepared to leave the same way they did the day before, with Kaito yelling at them to get out of bed and everyone taking quick showers one at a time. Miku was the first one to take a shower this morning. When she had a full night's sleep, she typically had a hard time waking up right away, but a cold shower usually did the trick. By the time she left the bathroom, there was a familiar notification on her phone.

_GUMI sent a picture._

This time, Miku smiled.  _She must be with Lily. She's safe. She's safe..._

Just as she sighed with relief, another message popped up, and her happiness shattered as quickly as it had formed.

 _GUMI:_   _You really thought you could just send over one of your friends to risk her life while you sat back and waited? You're a coward, Hatsune. Do exactly what you were instructed or there will be more consequences._

Luka was busy in the shower, but everyone else crowded around Miku as they stared at the threat. Rin uneasily clung to Miku's arm. "Is Lily...?"

Miku held her breath and opened the image. Of course, it was of Lily. It was a blurry photo taken outside, but the sunny blonde hair matted with crimson was still recognizable. Her bruised body, in bloodstained clothes, was curled up, limp on concrete.

Rin yelped and clenched her hands tighter, her nails digging into Miku's skin. "What now? What's gonna...I'm gonna call Cul...!" She tore herself away to retrieve her phone.

Cul was Lily's girlfriend. Miku didn't know her as well as Rin did, so she had to let Rin talk to her and find out if Cul knew what condition Lily was in. It would at least be reassuring if they heard that Lily was going to be okay, but nevertheless Miku started to shake, and now her hands were the ones beginning to tighten on her skin.

"It's my fault," she muttered, ignoring everyone else's inaudible attempts to comfort her. "It's my fault...if I stopped her from going...or warned her...or...if we just hadn't told her..."

"What's going on?" Luka appeared in front of her, her wet hair tied up in a bun. Miku hadn't noticed her coming out of the bathroom. "Are you okay, Miku?"

_Wait, no, that's not it. I should've just been more vocal._

"Okay, I talked to Cul." Rin returned, her voice slightly more hopeful than before. "I guess Lily isn't awake right now, but at least she's in a hospital."

"A hospital?" Luka's eyes widened, and she  bit her lip as she inhaled. "Lily? What happened?"

Kaito answered. "She got beat up. She couldn't get to Gumi."

Meiko nodded. "The kidnapper must be strong, then. We'll have to keep that in mind."

Luka lowered her gaze. "Poor Lily..."

"Don't act like it wasn't your fault."

Luka jerked her head up to stare at Miku, startled at her unnaturally cold tone. "I-I don't--"

"You're the one who told her what to do." Miku picked up her phone and got to her feet. "You're the one who was careless enough to just forget about her and use her."

Meiko stepped to Luka's side. "It's not like that, Miku--"

"I just should've known better than to think you're right all the time, Luka!"

Luka swallowed, and Kaito replied in her place. "Isn't that, uh...that's not really her fault, Miku."

"But  _why_ didn't you just  _think_ for a second?" Miku knew that it was her fault too, but she was getting angry. She'd always trusted Luka to give her guidance, to know how to handle things. It was Luka who took advantage of that. "You can't act like you always know what you're doing when you  _don't!_ Now Lily's really badly hurt 'cause you didn't care enough about her!"

"O-of  _course_ I care about Lily." Luka wasn't usually so dumbfounded. Usually she would properly defend herself with confidence. Had she ever known how to handle anything, or was that a lucky façade that was just now crumbling? "I really thought...she said she could do it, so--"

Now Miku was growing furious. "So you're blaming  _her_ now, when  _you're_ the one who didn't think about her safety?"

Len reached for Miku's hand, but was smacked away. It was rougher than Miku intended, and Rin rushed to his side as he rubbed his cheek. She glared at Miku, but said nothing. Meiko glanced from the twins holding to each other to Kaito covering his mouth in disbelief to Luka biting her thumb with wide eyes with unease. "Miku, just...calm down, alright? We can talk about this in the car--"

"No way! I'm not taking any of you with me anymore!"

_"Huh?"_

The keys to the van were lying out in the open, on the TV stand beside Meiko's pocketbook. Miku shoved past Meiko and Luka to grab them. "I'm not letting anyone else get hurt because you can't think about consequences!" Meiko lunged toward her, attempting to swipe her things back, but Miku darted away, toward the door. "I should've never called you in the first place, should've just gone on my own!"

"Miku, what the _hell--_ "

"How many people have to get themselves almost killed before you figure out that getting help only makes things worse?"

With that, Miku fled outside toward the van, slamming the door behind her. There was no time to ponder what she was doing, no time to blame herself for bringing her friends into this in the first place. She just had to get in, start the engine, and maneuver herself to the nearest bus station without knowing how to drive.

It was only about eight o'clock, so the roads were pretty empty. Miku had enough space to learn to align the van on the road, and eventually was able to take her phone and open the GPS. She didn't have to drive for long. Once she reached the bus station, she could use the money in Meiko's wallet to pay for a bus right to Terinten.

The problem was her dagger. It was still tucked in the pocket on the back of the passenger's seat, but Miku wasn't sure whether or not the bus would allow her to bring a weapon like that, even if it was concealed in Meiko's pocketbook. If she was lucky, they wouldn't have very rigid security measures.

Miku laughed to herself, softly and bitterly.  _I'm just a criminal. I stole my friend's car and her money just so my girlfriend can be safe. I'm not any better than Luka._

After all, Miku had convinced herself that Luka was in the right. Yes, Luka should've been more responsible, but Miku needed to be more critical and honest when she needed to. She'd been just as careless and self-centered, forcing her friends to cater to her just so this would be more convenient. It wasn't like she couldn't walk all the way to the address before Gackpo could reach it within ten days if she tried hard enough. She was lucky that only Lily had gotten hurt so far. As long as her friends didn't try to track her down, it would stay that way.

 _What's up with Gackpo, anyway? I feel like he would've been closer by now._ She hadn't heard anything about him at all, other than what his plan was. Actually, not even that. She didn't know where he'd been on vacation. Was he taking an airplane, then? Or was he close enough to drive?

There was no way she could try to call Gackpo and ask. He'd be livid if he knew what Miku was doing, and she hadn't talked to him since the incident that ended in her losing consciousness.

Before then, she'd just seen him as Gumi's annoying brother. And one day, before they moved in together, Miku made the mistake of kissing Gumi on the lips in Gackpo's line of sight.

Gumi had gotten up a few minutes later to go to the bathroom, and then Gackpo took the chance to approach Miku and grab her shoulders with rough, rigid hands. Miku barely remembered the words he'd spat into her ear. She remembered him saying something about not letting her turn his sister into a slut, how she was going to ruin her life, and she remembered retorting with something about how Gackpo needed to stop controlling Gumi's every move, and she remembered pain throbbing in her skull after a period of blankness.

Gumi had been terrified, of course, but she later explained to Miku that she couldn't risk making the situation worse, and so she couldn't stay with her after bringing her home. Miku didn't blame Gumi at all. She'd never seen him as anything more than an unlikable asshole, but remembering that day again, she wondered if Gumi saw him as even worse.

"He  _is_ an asshole," she'd said in agreement, a few days after the incident. "I can't bring myself to hate him as much as I should. He's the only real family I have right now. I just...wish he'd just leave me alone sometimes. He's always yelling..."

Would it be going too far to call Gackpo abusive? He certainly seemed to be on that path. Miku knew that if Gackpo appeared in front of Gumi to take her with him, she'd be even more distraught. That thought made Miku push her foot against the acceleration pedal a little harder, and she put all her focus on the directions on her phone being read to her.

* * *

When Miku was on the bus to Terinten, she spent her time thinking about what her plan would be now.

She had to only rely on herself now. Before, she wouldn't have wanted to bring her friends on a bus or a train to do this. Discussing a kidnapping on public transportation wasn't ideal, especially since Miku wasn't even supposed to tell anyone at all about it. In between bus rides, they wouldn't have much time to come up with a plan and prepare themselves in addition to resting. But now Miku was so close, and she'd left her friends behind for their own good. For everyone's own good, Miku had to finish this on her own.

She tightened her hands around the pocketbook in her lap, where the dagger had been hidden. Could she handle herself in a fight against the kidnapper? She wasn't as strong or experienced as Lily in that sort of thing, but then again, as far as she knew, Lily hadn't used an actual weapon.

Miku sighed at the memory of the image she'd seen this morning.  _I wish I had Cul's number so I could check on her. It's not like I can ask Rin._ She hadn't even dared to check her texts since she'd driven away from the motel. Meeting with them again would be tense no matter what, but it would be easier to wait until Gumi was safe. Easier for everyone to understand why Miku had to leave them behind. It stung a little to remember what she'd shouted to Luka's stunned face, but she wasn't wrong, was she? Luka should've never relied on Lily, and Miku should've never trusted Luka. Yet everyone else had been willing to take Luka's side, even after knowing what her carelessness had led to.

They were all careless fools, then. Miku was just the only one trying to break away from that foolishness, the only one protecting her friends from further danger.

Miku took her phone and woke up the screen, immediately swiping away any text notifications without letting herself read them. She couldn't think about them too much. She had to focus on rescuing Gumi. She looked up directions again, this time from the bus station in Terinten to the address on the note. Fortunately, she didn't need to take out the note around all these people to read it. She remembered the address perfectly by now. She just had to get there, defend herself, and take Gumi by the hand to safety. And Miku could finally kiss her again.

_I'll be there soon, Gumi._

* * *

It took about twenty minutes to walk from the bus station to the house. Miku had bought a water bottle at a vending machine, so that helped her to not die of heat stroke. The sky was very clear, allowing the sun to shed more than enough light for Miku to see the white house across from her.

It looked like a pretty nice house, considering that there was a kidnapping victim stuck there. Miku had sort of expected a shack. In any case, she had to be extra careful for any sort of traps. Every step toward the front door was taken with hesitation. Before attempting to open it, she crouched to lift the gray doormat.

 _Well, that was easy._ Miku lifted the silver key into her hand with ease.  _Maybe the S stands for "stupid."_

Of course, she had her dagger out and ready as she locked the door behind her, but there didn't seem to be anyone home right now. The implication of that made her heart sink.  _Is it too late? Did they take Gumi somewhere else?_ She walked around more quickly to search for the basement. An oak wooden door near the bathroom opened to reveal an unlit stairway. Miku froze for just a second. Was that a whimper she'd just heard, or just the creak of the door? She flicked on the light switch next to her, and her pace quickened, barely managing to not fall down the stairs.

Just when she raised her head again, she saw her.

Gumi had the same chains as in that cursed photo, trapping her to a chair against the bare wall. Her hands were behind her back, and her ankles were chained together as well. Her mouth was obscured by a tight layer of bloodstained gauze. Her eyes, still vibrant green despite everything, were wide, dried tear streaks running from each one.

The sight alone made Miku just want to stop and be grateful for how fortunate she was to have made it, but there wasn't time. She took quick, breathless steps forward. "Gumi...oh my God, Gumi..."

To her surprise, Gumi's eyes widened even further, and she started shaking her head violently. Miku lowered her dagger. "Gumi, Gumi, it's just Miku, it's just me. I'm here, okay? We'll be okay, Gumi..."

Gumi's panicked response was too muffled by the gauze for Miku to make out.

"No, Gumi, it's okay. It's just me." Miku felt her heart twist. Had Gumi somehow been brainwashed into fearing her? "You know that, don't you? I would never hurt you. You're my emerald."

The muffled voice rose into a scream, and Miku was close enough to see tears filling Gumi's eyes. It was hopeless. The best thing Miku could do was just cut her free, and then Miku could remind her that everything was okay now, that she loved her more than anything.

As Miku bent down to reach Gumi's hands, she was interrupted by a sudden, sharp agony in her torso. Gumi's gaze lowered, her screams starting to resemble a familiar sound.

" _Mm-kmm!"_

Miku followed the path of the horrified stare to her own stomach, feeling something trickle down to her legs, seeing it spreading deep scarlet through her white shirt.

_"MM-KMM!"_

She feebly attempted to grab and pull one of the chains as she fell to her knees, then back to the cold concrete floor.

On her back, as blood gushed from the wound and her vision blurred and darkened, she glimpsed a bloody katana and long, bright violet hair.


	7. Why?

"Don't look at me like that, Gumi. You should've known this would happen."

Miku clutched the wound near her abdomen as her body curled up tighter with each throb of her heart. Through teary eyes, she saw Gackpo grinning down at Gumi, who was still trying to scream Miku's name.

"After all," he chuckled, "you live with her now. Of course I know she doesn't have ten million yen to bring. It's not as if that would even be enough for me to let her take you away again."

Miku gasped, shocked and parched for air. Gackpo turned to her with the most prideful posture.

"Have you not pieced it together, Hatsune? I'm the one who took her here."

He crouched down, just so his mocking glare would be clearer to Miku, who could no longer do anything but desperately breathe and try to stop the blood. 

"And I know you," he continued. "More than you might think. Of course your friends would try to help you get around the ransom. I already knew to lie to Kaito if he told me the situation. I already knew that your friend would call Fukase and try to have a defense. I already knew that you'd be desperate enough to try using Masuda to do your dirty work. You wouldn't have ever been able to think ahead of me."

Miku couldn't risk using her breath to cuss him out.

"Don't beat yourself up over it." His grin widened, enjoying watching her shudder and glare. "Even if you hadn't abandoned your friends because you think too highly of yourself to keep using them, it would've ended up like this. But it's still a shame that you left them behind. I really didn't want to do this to you, but I don't have much of a choice, do I? No one can save you, and that's all your fault."

Miku hated him. She  _hated_ him for what he'd done to Gumi, but he was right. If Miku bled out and died here, it would be all her fault. She turned her eyes to Gumi, squirming violently in the chair.

The clinking of chains punctuated her struggle, and she tugged free one of her hands. Her eyes opened, darting to the dagger Miku had dropped as her hand hurried to loosen the rest of the chains.

Gackpo noticed this immediately, of course. He held his katana up protectively, waiting patiently for Gumi to writhe free, and finally tear away the gauze that silenced her. Her mouth hung open as she gasped for air and dived to grab the dagger. She glared back at Gackpo and spoke in a breath, "I'll _never_ let you fucking hurt her _again_." With a burst of passion, she lunged toward Gackpo, aiming the dagger at his chest, parrying the katana with surprising precision while she sought an opening.

 _But why, Gumi?_ Miku closed her eyes and tucked her chin tighter into her body.  _You know he's right about me, don't you? I'm just a weak, selfish traitor. You shouldn't have to fight for me._ She wanted to shout, to tell Gumi to just run away, just leave her to fend for herself like she was meant to, just get the hell out of this awful basement and find a refuge, but her body, desperate for all the air it could greedily swallow, wouldn't let her. She was forced listen to Gumi grunt with furious effort as she tried so hard to fight.

When Miku opened her eyes again, she knew that it was all a lost cause. Gumi looked like she'd lost some weight. Gackpo definitely hadn't been giving her enough food, and now the malnourishment was catching up to her. She was gasping for air and clutching her stomach, and her movements were becoming sloppy. When Gumi arched her back, Gackpo took the chance to strike it with the flat side of the katana.

Gumi fell on her stomach, her face close enough to Miku's for the beads of sweat to be visible. Her hand reached for Miku's and rested on top, despite tiny trickles of blood beginning to seep through. "I'm sorry," she whispered, her eyes gleaming with despair.

Miku shook her head against the concrete, and her voice finally came through. "Why didn't you just run away?"

"I don't care what you want me to do. I would never leave you behind like that." Gumi forced a smile. "You mean the world to me. Being alive would be torture without you.

Gackpo sighed with casual exasperation. "Well, now that that's over with, I'll have to tie you up harder this time. You know the rules, Gumi."

Gumi's hand tightened, but she didn't react otherwise.

"I'll give you a choice, though," he continued. "About Miku. Since she made it all this way, I suppose it's rude not to give her a chance to stay for a while. What do you think, Gumi? Should we just kill her, right here, right now? Or have her tied up in front of you and tortured until she dies on her own?"

Miku didn't care. She really didn't care. She was all out of any kind of hope or determination. Even when Gumi's eyes widened and she bit harshly down on her trembling lip, Miku could only think of her inevitable fate.

All she could say was "I love you," and wait for Gumi to make her decision. Even if the pause that followed seemed to last forever, even if all the blood left Miku's body in the time it took for Gumi to speak again...

_Crash!_

Miku's eyes flew open. Gumi and Gackpo were just as startled, everyone's head jerking toward the sound, Gackpo readying his katana.

Five sets of footsteps were thumping down the stairs. The first to emerge were none other than the Kagamine twins, side by side, blades at the ready.

"Party's over, bitch!" Rin hissed in Gackpo's direction. As she and Len prepared to defend themselves from the man charging toward them, three other weapons gleamed in the shadows behind them. Meiko, Kaito and Luka burst out in front of the twins, successfully ambushing Gackpo and giving Rin and Len a chance to hurry over to where Miku and Gumi lay on the floor.

_Why? Why? Why?_

"You got stabbed, didn't you?" Len was watching the blood slowly spill under Miku's body with sharp blue eyes. Miku feared that she would choke on something--blood? Tears? She could barely tell the difference anymore--and nodded with nothing more than a weak murmur. "God...okay, okay, I'll use my shirt for now, alright?"

Miku shook her head. Len wasn't wearing anything underneath but a binder, if even that. This was not a good situation to have skin exposed.

Len seemed to misunderstand. "You don't have to look."

Gumi cleared her throat, failing to rid her voice of its desparate rasp. "Len, please, just...stop her blood. I don't care what she says. We can't let her die."

Len nodded and, despite Miku's quiet, incoherent protest, pulled his gray muscle shirt over his head. There was no point in holding tightly to the ground, so Miku let him lift her gently to wrap the shirt around the puncture and tie a knot. It wouldn't be possible to block all of it, so blood still drizzled from her upper back, but the loss would be considerably reduced, at least.

Miku tried to speak, but only a broken breath escaped her lips, but Len seemed to understand what they formed.

"Why? Why what?" Len paused to exchange a glance with Rin, who'd had the similar idea of tying her flattened white ribbon around the deep cut on Gumi's wrist. That had to be from when she'd torn herself out of the chains.

Rin nodded and gave Miku the most confident smile she could muster. "Kaito left his phone in the van," she said, taking a quick look at the three friends, who were holding up well against Gackpo. They repeatedly surrounded him and blocked his katana when he tried to swing at them, retaliating with a quick slash of one of the blades. Rin nodded approvingly and turned her eyes back to Miku. "So we were able to track down where the van was 'cause Kaito has his location on. And then we figured you decided to get here all by yourself, so we went ahead and drove down here. I'm pretty sure Meiko ran, like, eight red lights."

"Five," Len corrected. "I counted."

Rin shrugged. "It's all illegal anyway. I hope Meiko doesn't get arrested when we call the cops."

Gumi grasped Miku's hand, which was now limp on the floor. "So, is...is that gonna be safe? Gackpo's friend is a cop, you know."

"Hm?" Rin tapped her chin to think for a second. "You mean...Akira Kano? He's a cop?"

"Of course he is," Len muttered. "That's how Gackpo would know if we called the cops on him before we got here. But Gumi isn't tied up anymore, and it's not like he's allowed to just break in all by himself."

"Yeah, I guess so," Gumi agreed softly. "Just be careful."

Miku tightened her hand around Gumi's, beginning to cherish her warmth. "Wh--" She nearly choked as tears threatened to pour out of her. "Why--"

Gumi pulled herself closer, and with effort, shifted her position so that she was facing Miku more directly. She gently held Miku against her, just as she did when they'd lie in bed together, caressing her cheek, kissing her forehead, stroking her back so lovingly...Miku was so close to losing this. So close to losing her. The only reason she wasn't going to was because her friends had broken in, after she'd yelled at them and betrayed them, blaming them for her own carelessness, especially poor Luka, still fighting with all her might until she restrained Gackpo with a knife to his throat and his katana disarmed.

"I--" Miku suddenly couldn't stop shaking. "I-I'm--I'm sor--"

"It'll be okay soon," Gumi whispered. Her voice hadn't quite steadied yet either. "Because of you. It's all because of you."

Miku shook her head against Gumi's chest.

"I love you, Miku."

They heard a short clap of hands nearby. "Alright, I called the cops," Rin announced. "And an ambulance. You guys need any help?"

Gackpo was attempting to wriggle free of Luka's restraint. Luka was strong, but she couldn't hold him forever, so she nodded at the twins and they each grabbed one arm and separated Gackpo's hands. Kaito had picked up the katana and pointed it right at Gackpo, even though he probably had no idea how to use it.

"I'll go back upstairs," Meiko decided. "So I can tell the cops where to go. Holler if you need me back down here."

Gackpo snarled as Meiko rushed upstairs. "Do you even realize what you're doing? I took Gumi here to protect her. She'll tell you I'm lying, because she's still too naïve to understand."

Luka lowered her head and spat right into his ear, "Fuck you."

Gackpo narrowed his eyes. "Of course you'd say that. You've always overthought everything, Luka. The issue with Miku's influence on my sister really isn't any of your--"

He flinched and squealed. Kaito had kicked him right in the crotch. "You're crazy," he muttered. "You know, I thought everyone was just overreacting about you. I didn't realize you were such a fucking nutjob."

"A nutjob?" Gackpo shook his head with irritation. "You really don't understand. I thought you, of all people, would know how I'd feel. Do you really care about Gumi, or are you just--"

" _MIKU!_ "

Luka tightened her hold as everyone turned toward Gumi, holding Miku tighter than ever.

"Miku, wake up..." She wouldn't tear her eyes away. "Miku...please, Miku..."

The twins let go of Gackpo's arms to rush toward her, but Gumi didn't notice at all. She was busy staring at Miku's closed eyes. Her chest still slowly and shakily rose and fell, but the panic flooding Gumi's eyes was unmistakable.

"Just a little longer..." Gumi's arms quaked as they held Miku. "Please...we're going to get help soon, just breathe a little longer..."

At that moment, a door slammed open from upstairs, and Meiko reappeared from the stairwell. "Gumi!" she called, waving her arm. "Can you walk okay?"

Gumi nodded, and Meiko approached her to help lift Miku. The twins also quietly held up each end. As they worked their way back up the stairs, Luka gently brought the blade of the knife against Gackpo's neck, its glint reflecting in Luka's eyes as she answered. "We've cared more about her in the past few days than you have in your entire life. So let go of that delusion of heroism you hid yourself in, or let it drag you down to Hell, where despicable human beings like you belong."

* * *

_"It'll be okay soon. Because of you. It's all because of you."_

_Why? What did Gumi see that I can't? It was thanks to our friends that we survived, and only because they cared enough to follow me. All I did was pretend to be a hero. Gackpo's right about me, can't you see that, Gumi?_

Miku didn't wake up in the hospital until she'd already been operated on. It took her a few moments to realize what had happened, and no longer than that to fret over her friends and Gumi. She was all alone in the room, lying on her back with bandages wrapped expertly around her, in dark silence with nothing but the monotonous beeping of the heart monitor.

Or so she thought. As her surroundings came more into focus, she caught sight of a familiar head of emerald green hair. It was hard to see in the dark, but the girl looked to be curled up asleep on the bench against the wall.

Miku wished she were able to leap out of the bed and over to her, and tightly embrace her, cherishing every little thing that she'd almost lost because of her own foolishness, to apologize for everything and to thank her for being alive. It was eating away at her that she was trapped by the blood transfusion tubes and the ache in her body, and she wasn't sure that she would be able to close her eyes and wait until they could speak to each other again.

But it couldn't hurt to try. The nightmare was over. They had all the time in the world now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i know this seems.....end-y but it's not the end stay tuned for lesbianism


	8. Emerald

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i actually like gackpo. weird writing him as a gross kidnapper

After a few weeks, everyone had recovered enough to begin to continue their daily life. Miku and Gumi eventually found the time to take a bus to Terinten to visit Lily and Cul. Miku was very nervous once she came face to face with Lily, who was now using crutches.

"Why would I be mad at  _you_ _?"_ Lily asked in disbelief. "You're not the one who kidnapped Gumi and beat me up. How were you guys supposed to know he had a  _fucking katana?"_

She talked about the events after she woke up in the hospital. Cul had been constantly texting Rin for updates on Gumi's situation in between fussing over Lily. "She told me," Lily mentioned, "that the bastard literally stabbed you through the back. And, honestly? I kinda had an emotional breakdown."

"Oh, no," Miku reacted softly, subconsciously guiding her fingers to where the stitches on her stomach were.

"We're all wicked lucky, huh?" Lily was smiling proudly, but it didn't completely hide her concern. "It's a miracle, that you survived that. God, I was so scared, I was thinking, Gackpo just killed her, Miku was just _murdered_ , but..." She quickly hugged her arms tightly around both Miku and Gumi. "You're both here, both alive, and we're all  _so_ lucky."

From the other room, Cul shouted, "It was the power of love!"

Miku was also extremely nervous about facing Luka again. She knew she had to properly apologize, even if Luka never brought up any sort of grudge.

"Stupid?" Luka gently stroked Miku's back. "I don't think you were being stupid. You must've been horrified after everything you had to witness. I know you feel bad about what you said, and I know you still want to be friends."

Miku nodded, too flustered and regretful to respond.

"It's fine, Miku. Everything is fine now. We don't ever have to worry about things like that again, okay?"

With Rin and Len, Miku and Gumi also visited Fukase in Peratsu, to Gumi's slight reluctance. His house was surprisingly nice, though.

"What?" Fukase noticed Gumi gawking at his fireplace. "You think I don't have standards? Fireplaces are hella cool, of course I'm gonna spend my money on that instead of Minecraft."

Len raised his eyebrows. "Fukase, you play Minecraft with me all the time."

"I  _pirated_ it. Duh."

They stayed for dinner, which Len prepared because nobody trusted Fukase, least of all Fukase himself. "Thank you, my beloved," Fukase told him, batting his eyelids. Or rather, eyelid. His other eye was still obscured by bandages, which he decided would be a good idea to explain over soba noodles.

"That bitch who threw acid at me was Akira," he said. "Meiko told me. Well, she told Len, and Len told me because Meiko hates my guts. By the way, did her dad end up grounding her?"

Gumi delayed pushing a clump of noodles into her mouth to point out, "She's twenty-one, isn't she a bit too old to be getting grounded?"

Len shrugged. "She said her dad yelled at her for thirty minutes. That's it."

Fukase snorted. "And he just forgot about it after that? Is that the only price for driving around without a license? Tell her to do it more often."

Rin leaned closer to Gumi and Miku and asked in a whisper, "It's been, like, three years and I still can't figure out what Len sees in him."

"I didn't hear that," Fukase declared, "but I'll have you know I sweep the  _floor_ in Pokémon!"

The news about Gumi's kidnapping and her rescue was all over the region. It was sort of surreal for Miku to be out in public and hearing the name of her girlfriend drifting from everyone's conversations. Not many people seemed to figure out Miku's connection. She was fine with that. There was a reason she'd denied the interviews requested by the news reporters.

"Why don't you talk to them?" Gumi asked, while playing Sonic Adventure in their living room. "You can do what you want, but I still wanna know."

Gumi's recovery was fascinating. In just a few weeks, most of her wounds had healed over, and she was just as cheerful as she'd been before. Miku didn't understand. She still had nightmares about it, and she hadn't gone through even half of Gumi's suffering.

"It's not my story," was Miku's answer. She felt overwhelmingly guilty. Talking to Gumi about it would only worsen everything. She'd be guilt-tripping Gumi into believing that Miku had suffered more. It got to the point where Miku couldn't stand seeing her own skin untouched by the abhorrent ordeal Gumi had gone through. Her back and stomach were stitched up and still healing, but it hadn't been enough. She lay awake that night, waiting until she could to flee to the bathroom and cut up her arms and legs until she was bleeding just as much as Gumi and Lily in those horrific pictures that had since been hastily deleted from her phone.

She would have succumbed if Gumi, asleep beside her, hadn't interrupted her thoughts with a soft whimper.

Miku watched her for a moment. Her fingers tightened around the edge of the pillowcase, her whole body began to subtly shake. Her whimpers escalated into muffled squealing, and Miku tentatively placed her hand on her shoulder. That didn't have any effect. She pulled Gumi closer toward her chest, and she whispered in her ear the only things she could think of.

"Gumi? I love you. It's okay, Gumi. No one can hurt you now."

Gumi gradually quieted down and stopped twisting around in Miku's arms. Miku thought she was sleeping peacefully again, until she pushed herself away to look up at Miku through frightened green eyes.

"I'm scared," Gumi whispered.

"No one can hurt you," Miku repeated.

Gumi shook her head, keeping her eyes fixed on Miku. "I have dreams sometimes. They tell me you died that day." She brushed her fingers lightly through Miku's long, turquoise hair. "They tell me this isn't real. I'm scared that I'm delusional."

Miku didn't know how to respond. She couldn't prove she was real, could she? Could she really prove that Gumi was in a safe reality, being loved and cherished every single moment?

"I'm sorry." Miku reached for Gumi's hand, and they laced their fingers. "I don't know how to tell you how much I love you."

That brought a small smile, gleaming from the moonlight reflected in the window. Something about seeing it on Gumi's lovely face made Miku confess.

"I feel worthless. I wanted to save you so badly, but I was so selfish, I really did want you to be safe but I wanted our friends to be safe too so I went on my own and I thought I would save you, but I was weak, I'm a coward, I let everybody down, you would've died because of how stupid I was if our friends hadn't found us, and even then Lily had to get herself hurt because of me, I blamed Luka, but it was all my fault, Gumi--" Her words almost became incomprehensible as she started to sob. "It was all my fault, that you got hurt so much, because I was stupid. And now I, I didn't mean to talk about that, I'm sorry--"

Gumi inched closer to her face, and brushed away the burning tears. Miku pushed her hand away.

"It shouldn't be your responsibility, to help me every time I have nightmares, to help me out of pitying myself, it's what I deserve. I wasn't the one who suffered."

Gumi returned her hand to Miku's face, this time forcefully holding it against the dampened skin. "No, it's not my responsibility, it's what I want. You make me happy, I make you happy. It's only fair."

Miku didn't know how to respond without being even more manipulative. Gumi was able to read her anyway.

"You're  _not_ manipulative. My brother wants you to think you're a bad person. Don't give him what he wants."

"It isn't that easy. It's hard to not think I'm a bad person."

"I know. But it's easy for me." Gumi lessened the force of her hand and trailed it down to Miku's chest. "You sacrificed your safety for me. For everyone. Even when he stabbed you, you held onto life so that you could be with me in a happy ending."

Miku shook her head. She wished she knew how she was supposed to feel.

"It's okay now. We can help each other learn to love ourselves as much as we love each other."

Gumi kissed her lips very gently, as if everything would shatter if she wasn't careful. They looked into each other's eyes again, and Miku saw tears there, too, swimming in the gleams of Gumi's green eyes, bright and alive, something they could have lost had they not held onto each other so dearly.

"Thank you," Miku whispered, having the courage to smile at her.

"Thank  _you,_ " Gumi repeated.

They kissed again, closing their eyes this time, holding to each other as their lips tenderly pressed and locked. There was nothing to shatter. With their love, they were safe.

Miku didn't know how to feel, or what to think. Everything was confusing, and the fact that it was the middle of the night didn't make anything easier. That was okay. She didn't need to understand everything right now. What mattered was that Gumi was here, and she would stay for as long as their eternal love lasted.

They parted, with Miku still smiling with the utmost gratefulness.

"I love you, my emerald."

* * *

_"Emerald is the stone of life, beauty and enduring love. It is also a stone that enhances inspiration and patience. All good things come to a person who never gives up."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> edit 5/8/19: this is...weird and probably not the best but as proud as i am of this story i've realized i never really explained how gackpo kidnapped gumi because i really didn't know how to insert it anywhere within the last couple of chapters without disrupting the flow. so, here it is.  
> gumi woke up in the middle of the night and decided to get a glass of water. before she got far she noticed she had a text message from gackpo. as much as gumi fears him and is angry with him, she still does care for him deep down as his little sister. gackpo asked her if she was awake, and when gumi confirmed that she was, gackpo said he would be driving to her house because there was an emergency. gumi left the house without waking miku.  
> gackpo told gumi that he needed to quickly use the bathroom. while he did this, he was able to leave the ransom note before returning to gumi and asking her to get in his car. when they were both inside, gackpo offered her a bottle of water, which was laced with sedatives. gackpo drove and improvised a reason as to why he needed to get gumi to terinten this instant. once he was certain that gumi was completely unconscious, he called kano akira (aka assloid), his accomplice. akira was on his way to miku's house to make sure no evidence had been left behind. he'd stopped the car and gotten out to talk to gackpo. while doing this, fukase saw him while walking his dog. akira panicked, telling gackpo that they can't have any witnesses, and threw hydrochloric acid at fukase's face. while fukase was, you know, trying to not be horribly mutilated, assloid continued talking with gackpo and reassured him that he would do everything in his power as a police officer to make sure the police don't get involved.  
> gumi didn't regain consciousness until she was tied up in gackpo's basement, and the rest is history
> 
> phew i hope that made sense...thank you so much for reading!! i'm really proud of this fic and i hope you enjoyed it!!


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